


You're a Sunburst

by venusthemirror



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Mortal, Coming Out, Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, IndieBand!Will, Internalized Homophobia, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Panic Attacks, RockBand!Nico, Running Away, Self-Acceptance, Slow Burn, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-21 21:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30027816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venusthemirror/pseuds/venusthemirror
Summary: "The vocalist was so full of energy that it was impossible to look away. At least, that's the thought that went through the head of the blond boy wiping down tables at the back of the venue."Will Solace and Nico di Angelo are in rival bands, and they're set to compete against each other in three weeks. Nico tries to hate Will, but after two of them are paired together to work on an English project, Will manages to break through his shell. As they start to develop feelings for each other, they have to navigate through high school drama, parties, coming out, fights, and blackmail from a mysterious user on the school gossip website.AKA, the fic you'd get if Lemonade Mouth and Love, Simon had a baby.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

Nico couldn’t have been happier.

It was the band’s first real, paying gig: a little restaurant venue called _Naomi’s_. He and his three best friends played perfectly in sync with each other. To his right, Jason played a melodic riff on his guitar, while to his left, Reyna plucked along in time on her bass. Percy drummed out a steady rhythm behind him, setting the pace with the crash of his cymbals.

Nico’s eyes scanned the faces in the crowd. It was almost the end of the night, so most of the regular customers had cleared out, but a bunch of their closest friends had stuck around to show their support for the band. Nico’s stepsister Hazel snapped a picture of him on her camera from where she sat with Frank, her boyfriend, and Leo and Piper, Jason’s friends. At another table, Jason’s sister Thalia, who had graduated last year, was catching up with Annabeth, Grover, and Rachel. Thalia clapped enthusiastically as her brother ended the song they had been playing with a punchy guitar riff.

With his preppy style and clean-cut hair, Jason didn’t look like the kind of guy who would be in a rock band, but Thalia’s music taste had rubbed off on him growing up. The band hadn’t been his idea though; it had been Percy that suggested it after he took up the drums last year to cope with his ADHD and anger issues. Percy insisted that playing the drums alone was boring, so he convinced Jason to jam with him. They quickly realized that no song is complete without bass, and that’s how Reyna got roped into joining the boys’ jam sessions.

At that point they could’ve been a complete band, if any of them had been stronger singers. Percy ended up begging Nico to be their vocalist and rhythm guitarist. Nico didn’t know a thing about playing guitar; he only knew how to play piano at the time. Not to mention, he despised being the center of attention. But Percy was so invested in the band, and Nico couldn’t say no to him, so he sucked it up, got a hand-me-down guitar from Jason, and attempted to play it halfway decently.

Once he was onstage Nico let the music absorb him, and he barely felt nervous at all. The only people in the crowd that mattered to him were his friends. But there would always be an ache in Nico’s heart as he scanned the crowd for a face that he would never find. Seeing Thalia here to support her little brother just drove the point home even more.

As he started off the last song of their set, Nico shook his head to clear his thoughts. Everyone’s eyes were on him as he played the simple intro to the song on his guitar, singing along softly. His bandmates waited in suspense, only joining in after Nico jumped up an octave and started strumming his guitar in earnest. He was so full of energy that it was impossible to look away.

At least, that’s the thought that went through the head of the blond boy wiping down tables at the back of the venue as he watched Nico passionately lead into the bridge of the song.

“Promise you'll stay with me and I'll never let you fall,  
I've heard the climb is so much better than the ending of it all;  
Let me begin by saying something clever:  
You and I will never ever part.  
Forget how it ends,  
Let me show you how it starts.  
It starts like this…”

His tenor voice resounded brightly, contrasting with the rock music that his band was playing. He sang with his whole body, convulsing along with the beat as he strummed his guitar. As the song built up to its final chorus, the dark haired boy leaned in to the microphone. He closed his eyes, singing a beautiful string of notes that layered on top of his bandmates’ backing vocals.

“Can you imagine love?”

The boy at the back of the room barely even noticed the actions of the other band members. His eyes remained inexplicably tied to the lead vocalist and his emotional singing. The boy moved with a breathtaking intensity that only let up as he softly sang the last line of the song, his head tipping down and his shaggy black hair falling into his eyes.

The song was over.

The remaining customers swarmed the small stage, congratulating their friends on their awesome performance. The group congregated in front of the singer, obscuring him from the blond’s view. He turned back to focus on the table he was supposed to be wiping.

“That was great, Nico!” Hazel exclaimed, causing Nico’s lips to curl up into a smile as his sister pulled him into a quick hug.

“Yeah, it looks like your guitar playing has really improved,” Frank added.

Thalia gave him an approving nod. “You totally crushed it up there, di Angelo.”

“Thanks, you guys.” Nico suddenly went stiff as he felt a hand ruffle his hair from behind.

“Sick playing, dude!” came a voice that could only belong to Percy, who just laughed as the smaller boy hissed and batted his hand away. Jason and Reyna walked over to the pair, offering Nico their own praise.

Hazel’s eyes glinted mischievously as she backed away from the four of them, snapping a candid photo of the bandmates. Stunned by the flash, they were barely able to prepare themselves as Leo rushed toward the group in a blur. “Yo, don’t tell me you’re taking pictures without me!” he called from where he was now clinging to Jason’s back. He had jumped on the taller boy from behind. Hazel giggled and raised her camera up once again, capturing the surprised look on Jason’s face as he struggled to keep his balance.

Not to be outdone by Leo, Frank stepped into the group. “If he gets to be in the pictures then so do I,” he stated earnestly as Percy slung his arm around his cousin’s shoulders.

“What, are we taking a group picture now?” Annabeth asked from the other side of the stage.

“Wait up for me!” Rachel motioned for everyone to gather around the band. The ten of them squeezed together; Nico grimaced as Grover accidentally stuck one of his crutches on top of Nico’s foot.

Piper looked around from where she stood between Reyna and Jason. “Hazel, it’s not a full group picture if you’re not in it,” she stated.

“Well someone has to press the camera button!” came her reply.

“Why don’t you ask that waiter over there to take it for you?” Jason offered, pointing toward the back of the room. Hazel nodded in agreement before walking over to the blond and tapping him on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, would you mind taking a picture of my friends and me? All you have to do is press this top button right here.” Hazel showed him where it was.

The boy flashed her a bright smile. “Sure, it’s no problem.” The pair walked back towards the stage, where Hazel joined the group, wedging herself between Frank and Nico.

The waiter held the camera up to his eye. “Alright, everyone smile, I’m taking it on three.” Hazel leaned in to press a kiss to Nico’s cheek, causing him to break into a grin.

“One, two, three!”

Click, flash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is Into the Rest by Avion Roe, this isn't a songfic but they're both in bands so sometimes there are going to be references to songs.  
> This is my first fic ever, and I know the tags make it look like this is gonna be intense but I promise you it's not lol, I just tried to tag everything I could think of that people might want to avoid, most of it is super small and I will put a warning at the beginning of chapters that contain stuff that might be upsetting.  
> I have about 1/3 of this written, and I'm gonna update every Saturday until I finish writing, then I might speed up the updates. Comments/kudos/etc will be greatly appreciated! :)


	2. Chapter 2

“It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a...  
Typical story where the bassist kills the singer, the guitarist and the drummer find they're in love with each other;  
It's the story of the kid who clearly won't know what to say when the love of his life starts to calmly walk away;  
And it's a story of the dad who decides to chase his dream; he quits his job, he falls apart, then he loses everything;  
And it's the story of the kid who just wants to make a record, loves and crafts it but nobody ever, ever cares about it—”

“Hold up, hold up, hold up,” Austin interrupted, causing Will’s voice to trail off. “Cecil, you’re off again,” he said exasperatedly, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry man, I’m trying my best back here!”

“What made you think this was a good idea again, Austin?” Lou Ellen asked. “Do you really think Cecil will be able to learn to play the drums in such a short amount of time?”

“Hey, I’ve been practicing really hard,” Cecil stated earnestly. “For almost two weeks now! We can’t all be classically trained pianists, Lou.” She stuck her tongue out at him in reply.

“Besides,” Will added, “it’s not like there’s anyone else who can do it. Kayla’s too busy with archery, and Lavinia has a dance competition coming up soon.”

Austin chimed in. “Drums are easy once you get the beat into your muscle memory. You just have to keep practicing.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Cecil cried disbelievingly. “You’re like, a musical prodigy!” To be fair, he wasn’t wrong; Austin’s music channel had a big following on YouTube, and he could play almost any instrument that he tried. His favorite was the saxophone, but right now he was playing the bass guitar. Even though he was only a sophomore, he was already thinking ahead about applying to Julliard.

“At least there’s three more weeks before we have to play in front of anybody,” Lou Ellen comforted Cecil.

“Yeah, about that…” Austin started, his three friends turning their eyes toward him. “I kinda signed us up to play at that little coffee shop on the other side of town this Saturday.”

“What?!” Will asked incredulously.

“Oh and uh, also next Saturday as well.”

“Dude, why would you do that?” Will suddenly felt a little bit faint.

Austin leaned forward and placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, attempting to comfort him. “Listen Will, I know playing in front of people makes you super nervous, so I figured this could, I don’t know, help you get it out of your system maybe? Before we have to play at the competition.” 

Still feeling a bit queasy, Will tried to look optimistic. “I guess it might work?”

“Trust me, Will,” Lou Ellen piped in, “if anybody’s gonna mess up, it’s not gonna be you.” She shot Cecil a dry look. “So we’d better keep practicing.”

The other three band members nodded in agreement. Will struck up the song from the beginning, setting the pace as he strummed his acoustic guitar. This time around, Cecil came in on time with the drums, so the band continued playing into the chorus.

“And hey, hey I don't think I know much,  
But I know I couldn't take a good punch,  
So if you feel like I've been talking enough,  
Just tell me to shut up and I will gladly shut the fuck up—

Wait, y’all,” Will interrupted, forcing his bandmates to come to a halt. “I know those are the lyrics to the song, but if we’re gonna be playing this at a coffee shop, should I really sing that last part?”

“Since when did you care about cussing?” Cecil teased him.

“I don’t!” Will defended himself. “It’s just like, what if there are kids there or something?”

“Fair point,” Austin conceded.

Lou Ellen giggled. “Alright, why don’t you change it to ‘I will gladly shut the heck up’ then?”

“Well when you say it like that it sounds stupid,” Will complained. But no one could think of a better alternative, so the band returned to playing the song, now with slightly modified lyrics.

“Settle down, little kid, your bones are shaking in your skin;  
Go and try and take a breath, though nothing more, nothing less!”

Will looked around the classroom as he played. The four of them all lived in different parts of town, so it was easier for them to practice at school. That way, no one had to spend extra time driving to someone’s house and then driving home. Over the summer that hadn’t mattered, so they had practiced at Austin’s house. But today they had started their sophomore year of high school, so now they’d have to balance school, homework, and band practice.

Mr. Brunner, Austin’s music teacher, had been kind enough to let them use his classroom after school. He sat in his wheelchair at the back of the room, playing Solitaire on the computer on his desk. Mr. Brunner was the one who had told Austin about the Rising Star competition in the first place; in three weeks, their band would compete against other high schoolers from all across the state of California in order to win a cash prize.

But Austin didn’t care about the money. He wanted to compete so he could add the achievement to his music school application. Lou Ellen jumped at the chance to flex her piano skills, jokingly claiming that she had been training her whole life for this opportunity. They needed a drummer, which is how Cecil got roped into joining the band, even though he had no idea what he was doing.

Will had only agreed to play the guitar, but once they started playing indie songs, Austin had insisted that Will be the vocalist as well. He claimed that they needed a less soulful, unpolished singer in order to give their songs that characteristic indie sound. Will was pretty sure that was code for ‘we need a singer that isn’t that good,’ but nevertheless, he agreed to it in spite of his performance anxiety.

If anybody asked Will why he went along with all of this, he would say that he was just doing a favor for Austin. And sure, that was part of it; but Will also had more selfish reasons for wanting to be in this competition. Not that he would ever be able to admit them to any of his bandmates.

“It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a...  
Typical story of the king who had it all except for citizens who didn't want his head up on a wall;  
It's the typical story of the wife who couldn't quit being in love with such a giant piece of shit…”

 _There’s another lyric we’ll have to fix if we’re going to perform this song at a coffee shop,_ Will thought. _But that one is part of the rhyme, so it’ll be harder to change…_

“It's the story of the queen who could never, ever think of any redeeming qualities a man could ever bring;  
It’s the—“

Will’s voice was cut off by the sound of the classroom door opening.

In walked what might’ve been the scariest group of people Will had ever seen in his life.

“What are you guys doing in here?”

The voice that had asked the question belonged to no other than Percy Jackson, one of the most infamous troublemakers in the senior class. He wasn’t in Will’s grade, but of course he had heard about Percy; he was basically a legend. A very scary legend. There was that one time he stole a flask from the office of the school counselor, Mr. D, and replaced its contents with Diet Coke. Punishing Percy would’ve involved explaining why he had a flask at school, because somehow the administration hadn’t noticed Mr. D’s drinking habit, even though all the students certainly had. Since that day, the guidance counselor had taken his revenge by refusing to call Percy his correct name, but other than that, Percy had completely gotten away with it. 

There was that other time he had gotten in a fight with one of the popular boys who had graduated the year before, but Will didn’t really know what that was about. It was also rumored that Percy had stolen a police car once, but Will figured if that were true he probably wouldn’t still be going to their school. After his fight at the beginning of last year, Percy seemed to have mellowed out; his only real act of delinquency since then had been breaking one of the tables in the courtyard while he was showing off his skateboarding tricks during lunch.

Even so, Percy was still super intimidating. He was tall and well built, with tan skin, messy black hair, and sharp green eyes. The sleeves of his blue hoodie were rolled up to reveal a tattoo of a trident on one of his forearms. His attitude screamed ‘don’t mess with me,’ and there was a certain sense of unpredictability in his gaze.

And now he was glaring directly at Will, who was completely frozen. 

_Why is Percy Jackson asking what my bandmates and I are doing in Mr. Brunner’s room?_

Luckily, Austin spoke up. “Look man, I don’t know why you’re upset, but we asked Mr. Brunner if we could use his classroom to rehearse after school. So in my opinion, it should be _me_ asking _you_ what you’re doing in here.”

“What do you mean?” the blond boy next to Percy asked. Hurt and confusion flashed across his face as he addressed the music teacher, who had finally looked up from his game of Solitaire at the mention of his name. “I asked you earlier today if we could practice in your room, Mr. Brunner.”

The man winced apologetically. “I’m sorry Jason, I must’ve thought you were both in the same band.”

 _Wait, Jason? As in Jason Grace, one of the junior class representatives?_

Will hadn’t been paying much attention to anyone other than Percy when the group walked in, but now that he looked closer he was sure the blond was Jason, the school’s golden boy. He was the captain of the crew team and a member of basically every service club. All of his teachers and classmates loved him, so naturally he had been elected class representative. He was even still wearing his purple polo with the school logo on it, because the welcoming assembly had happened earlier that day. 

And standing next to him in a matching shirt was no other than Reyna Ramírez, the other junior class rep. Will didn’t know much about her, except that she was one of the best girls on the women’s wrestling team. She hadn’t spoken yet, but she stared Will down with a look that made him sure she could definitely beat him up if she tried. 

_Man, how do these two manage to look so intimidating in their preppy purple polo shirts?_

“Tch. As if I’d be caught dead playing in a band with these indie losers,” a quiet voice shot back at Mr. Brunner’s apology. Will’s eyes finally moved to the last member of the other band. He had been leaning against the doorframe, his face partly obscured by the darkness from the hallway outside. 

If Will hadn’t already been frozen, he most definitely was now. 

_It’s him! That awesome singer from Saturday night!_

This close, Will was able to get a better look at the boy than he had the other night when he was performing at his mom’s venue. He was thin and paler than Will expected; he had originally chalked the boy’s complexion up to the stage lights washing him out. His disheveled black hair framed his face and fell into his dark, deep set eyes. The bags underneath them made him look tired, like he had recently pulled an all nighter. He had spoken with a bit of an accent, though Will couldn’t quite place where he was from.

The singer was shorter than Percy or Jason, and seemed to easily go unnoticed, blending into the background of the scene. On stage, it had been impossible not to be captivated by him, but now it almost seemed like he was trying to melt into the shadows. Will was almost certain he had never seen this boy around school before.

As he spoke, he twisted a silver skull ring around his middle finger. His leather aviator jacket, ripped black skinny jeans, steel-toed combat boots and the chains hanging from his belt made him look incredibly intimidating. And also, Will thought, incredibly cool. Will was absolutely sure that this mysterious boy was the most intriguing person he had ever seen.

_And he just called me an indie loser!_

This was not the way that Will would’ve liked to meet this boy.

_So much for first impressions._

The singer’s insult had caused the tension in the room to thicken. Always the mediator, Will finally broke out of his frozen stupor. Hopefully he could help the two bands reach a compromise (and also prevent himself from looking like an idiot in front of a guy who was like, way cooler than him).

“Look, y’all, this is totally just a misunderstanding,” Will placated. “Why don’t we share the room? We can each practice here every other day. You guys can even have it today!” Austin shot Will a wide eyed look at that last part. “We really didn’t mean to cause you any trouble,” Will continued to ramble. “Besides, we only need the rehearsal space until the competition, so after three weeks you can have it every day after school.”

Reyna’s eyes narrowed. “What’s this about a competition?”

Will realized his mistake too late. He had just mentioned the completion to a band that was way better than the group that Austin had hastily put together. But he couldn’t just take back what he had said, so he answered Reyna’s question. 

“The Rising Star competition. It’s, uh, this statewide kind of battle of the bands thing, where bands perform original songs. And um, whoever wins gets a $2,500 prize.”

_How did I not notice that Percy, Jason, and Reyna were playing in that band Saturday night?_

The rather embarrassing answer was that Will had been too busy staring at the band’s vocalist to notice any of the other musicians.

“I’m calling a band meeting!” Percy announced. The boy leaning in the doorway rolled his eyes, but nevertheless he joined his bandmates as they gathered into a huddle, whispering to each other. While they talked, Austin shot Will an angry look. Will winced apologetically.

“Alright then,” Percy turned back to face the other band. “We’ll take you up on your offer. We get the room today and you can have it tomorrow.” He broke into a maniacal smile. “And you better believe we’re gonna kick your asses at that competition in three weeks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is Typical Story by Hobo Johnson! And a lot of the lyrics I included are referring to certain characters.  
> Maybe one day someone will read this story more than once and come back and appreciate how much foreshadowing I include ;-; or maybe I will just have to be the one to appreciate myself, lol.  
> Will is so intimidated by Nico's friends in this chapter haha. Also, I think it's funny that Nico's only line in this one has him say "tch" like an anime boy.  
> Comments and kudos make my day! I'll update again next Saturday.


End file.
